Referee mode within gaming environments

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing referee control over game play within a gaming environment are provided herein. Exemplary methods may include establishing a referee role that allows an end user to exert referee control of game play relative to a competition, within a gaming environment, between a plurality of participants, establishing referee rights for the referee role, the referee rights being made available only to the end user upon which the referee role has been conferred; and, conferring the referee role upon the end user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present technology relates generally to videogames and gamingenvironments, and more specifically, but not by way of limitation, tovideogames and gaming environments that allow for referee oversightwithin the gaming environment. In some instances, a referee may controlor affect game play between participants, such as participants in avirtual sporting event.

BACKGROUND

Spectator modes within video games often allow for non-participatingparties (e.g., spectators) to view game play or activities of activegaming participants (e.g., individuals playing the videogame). Whilethese spectator modes allow spectators to view game play, they do notallow for spectators to actually control or influence the gamingexperience of a game participant. Additionally, these spectator modes donot allow for a virtual referee to execute referee commands that controlgame play and/or interactions between active participants within acompetition, such as a virtual sporting event.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to some embodiments, the present technology may be directed tomethods for providing referee control over game play within a gamingenvironment. The methods may comprise: (a) establishing a referee rolethat allows an end user to exert referee control of game play relativeto a competition, within a gaming environment, between a plurality ofparticipants; (b) establishing referee rights for the referee role, thereferee rights being made available only to the end user upon which thereferee role has been conferred; and (c) conferring the referee roleupon the end user.

According to other embodiments, the present technology may be directedto methods for providing referee control within a gaming environment.These methods may comprise: (a) providing an end user with refereerights that allow the end user to referee a competition within a virtualgaming environment; and (b) executing referee commands received from theend user to affect the competition.

According to additional embodiments, the present technology may bedirected to gaming systems that provides referee control of a gamingenvironment. These gaming systems may comprise: (a) a memory for storingexecutable instructions; and (b) a processor for executing theexecutable instructions, the executable instructions comprising: (i) aroll generator module that: (1) establishes a referee role that allowsan end user to exert referee control of game play relative to acompetition, within the gaming environment, between a plurality ofparticipants; (2) assigns referee rights for the referee role, thereferee rights being made available only to the end user upon which thereferee role has been conferred; and (3) confers the referee role uponthe end user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture for practicing aspects ofthe present technology.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for providing refereecontrol over game play within a gaming environment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another exemplary method for providing refereecontrol within a gaming environment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing system that may beutilized to practice aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

While this technology is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail several specific embodiments with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the technology and is not intended to limit the technologyto the embodiments illustrated.

According to some embodiments, the present technology may be directed tosystems and methods for providing referee control and/or oversight overgame play within a gaming environment. More specifically, but not by wayof limitation, the present technology may allow specified end users toact as virtual referees in a gaming environment, such as an virtualsports game. The present technology may assign a referee role to an enduser. The referee role may comprise a plurality (or at least one) ofreferee rights that determine how the referee may affect game play. Inbroad terms, the referee may oversee, mediate, control, or otherwiseaffect the game play between participants in a competition, similarly toa referee in a physical sporting event.

In general, a referee may oversee a game being conducted within a gamingenvironment. The referee may be granted access to pause the game asnecessary, keep time, add or subtract time, make calls such as fouls,eject participants from the game, rewind the game to certain playerpositions should a bug or error in the game make it impossible or unfairto continue, review past play upon pausing, switch between virtualcameras, or any other action of a virtual referee that would be known toone of ordinary skill in the art.

The rights attributed to the referee may depend, in part, upon the typeof game being played. For example, the referee rights of a baseballumpire may be different from the rights of a referee in a basketballgame. Various types of referees contemplated for use in accordance withthe present technology may comprise, but are not limited to, umpires,judges, touch judge, arbiters, arbitrators, linesmen, commissaries,timekeepers, and so forth. Again, each of these different types ofreferees may be provisioned with unique (or sometimes similar) sets ofrights and/or duties.

The present technology may provide referees with special commands thatare only available to end users who have been commissioned as referees.That is, these commands are preferably unavailable to generalparticipants in the gaming environment. These commands may be accessedthrough an intuitive interface or through user input received via agaming system. For example, the referee may input referee commands via acontrol device of a gaming console.

The present technology may also vet or gate end users to for refereeroles by, for example, requiring end users to pay a fee. In otherinstances, prospective referees may be required to complete and pass anonline exam to establish a proficiency in the game. In otherembodiments, prospective referees may be required to prove proficiencyin the game by playing a minimum set of hours, attaining a certainminimum player ranking, achieving a skill set or accomplishment in thegame, or other similar criterion that would be known to one of ordinaryskill in the art.

In some instances, virtual sporting events may require multiplereferees, and in some instances a virtual referee may be compensated toofficiate various types of sporting events. These and other advantagesof the present technology will be discussed in greater detail herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture 100 for practicing aspectsof the present technology. The architecture 100 is shown as including anetworked gaming system 105 implemented within the context of a server110 (shown within a plurality of web servers). The networked gamingsystem 105 may facilitate the operation of a videogame program 125 thatgenerates a gaming environment, such as a virtual sporting competition.

An end user computing system 115 (shown within a plurality of end usercomputing systems) may be communicatively coupled to the server 110 viaa network connection 120. It will be understood that the networkconnection 120 may include any private or public network such as theInternet. End user computing system 115 may comprise, for example, apersonal computer or a gaming console.

When the end user computing system 115 is communicatively coupled to theserver 110, a referee may oversee and/or control game play within thegaming environment generated by a videogame program 125 using their enduser computing system 115. Likewise, participants may interact with thegaming environment using their own end user computing system 115.

In some embodiments, the networked gaming system 105 may be implementedas a cloud-based computing environment. In general, a cloud-basedcomputing environment is a resource that combines the computationalpower of a large grouping of processors and/or that combines the storagecapacity of a large grouping of computer memories or storage devices.For example, systems that provide a cloud resource may be utilizedexclusively by their owners. These systems may be accessible to outsideusers who deploy applications within the computing infrastructure toobtain the benefit of large computational or storage resources.

The cloud may be formed, for example, by a network of web servers, witheach web server (or at least a plurality thereof) providing processorand/or storage resources. These servers may manage workloads provided bymultiple users (e.g., cloud resource consumers or other users).Typically, each user places workload demands upon the cloud that vary inreal-time, sometimes dramatically. The nature and extent of thesevariations typically depend on the type of business associated with theuser. With respect to the present disclosure, the workloads provided bythe multiple users of the present technology would include game play inthe networked gaming environment.

According to some embodiments, the networked gaming system 105 may begenerally described as a particular purpose computing environment thatincludes executable instructions stored in memory. These instructions,when executed by the processor provide referee features within thegaming environment. More specifically, the networked gaming system 105may execute the videogame program 125 to generate a gaming environment.The videogame program 125 may comprise one or more mechanisms forfacilitating referee interaction with the gaming environment. Accordingto some embodiments, the networked gaming system 105 establish a refereerole that allows an end user to exert referee control of game playrelative to a competition, within a gaming environment, between aplurality of participants. Additionally, the networked gaming system 105may establish referee rights for the referee role. It will be understoodthat the referee rights may be made available only to the end user thatthe referee role has been conferred upon. Indeed, the networked gamingsystem 105 may confer the referee role upon the end user by way of areferee mode module, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

Stated otherwise, the networked gaming system 105 may provide forreferee control within a gaming environment by providing an end userwith one or more referee rights that allow the end user to referee acompetition within a virtual gaming environment. The networked gamingsystem 105 receives these commands during game play and executes refereecommands to affect the competition. In sum, each referee command may beassociated with specific set of instructions for a videogame program 125that are executed by the networked gaming system 105. In someembodiments, the videogame program 125 that facilitates a gamingenvironment may reside on the server 110.

Stated otherwise, the networked gaming system 105 may provide forreferee control within a gaming environment by providing an end userwith one or more referee rights that allow the end user to referee acompetition within a virtual gaming environment. The network gamingsystem 105 receives these commands during game play and executes refereecommands to affect the competition. In sum, each referee command may beassociated with specific set of instructions for a videogame program 125that are executed by the network gaming system 105. In some embodiments,the videogame program 125 that facilitates a gaming environment mayreside on the server 110.

With regard to the videogame program 125, the videogame program 125 maycomprise any type of videogame application/program/set of executableinstructions, including but not limited to, a multiplayer networkedvideogame such as a sporting event, a MMORPG (massively multiplayeronline role-playing game), a first-person shooter, a strategy game, roleplaying games, action games, arcade games, simulation games, and soforth. Other suitable types of videogames that would be known to one ofordinary skill in the art are also likewise contemplated for use inaccordance with the present technology. Active participants (e.g., gameplayers) may interact with the gaming environment that is generated bythe videogame program 125. For example, participants in team sportingevents, such as baseball, football, basketball, and so forth, mayinteract as a team. Individual competitors may also compete one on onewith other participants in sporting event such as tennis, boxing, and soforth.

With regard to conventional videogames, the gaming experience for activeparticipants is largely, if not entirely, predetermined by gamedesigners and encoded into the videogame. Therefore, other than actionsperformed within the gaming environment by other active participants,the gaming experience of an active participant is preconfigured into theexecutable instructions for the videogame.

Advantageously, the present technology allows for referee interactionwith the gaming environment. Referee interaction may comprise any ofrule enforcement, time keeping, game play review, and so forth. Each ofthese broad types of referee interactions may be facilitated byexecuting individual referee commands during game play. For example, arule enforcement command may include calling a foul. Again, the types ofcommands afforded to the referee may depend, in part, upon the type ofvideo game being played. Moreover, each type of game may require varioustypes of referees. For example, a virtual baseball game may require anumpire crew that comprises a home plate umpire, as well as first,second, and third base umpires. In some instances, the umpire crew maycomprise right and left field umpires. Thus, a virtual baseball game mayinclude a plurality of virtual referees.

In some instances, the videogame program 125 may comprise a referee modemodule 130 and a qualification module 135. In other embodiments, thereferee mode module 130 and the qualification module 135 may cooperatetogether as a standalone plug-in or module that is separate from thevideogame program 125.

It is noteworthy that the server 110 may include additional modules,engines, or components, and still fall within the scope of the presenttechnology. As used herein, the term “module” may also refer to any ofan application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes one ormore software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit,and/or other suitable components that provide the describedfunctionalities.

Prior to conferring a referee role to an end user, a plurality ofvarious types of referee roles may be created. These referee roles maycomprise various combinations of referee rights that define actions thatmay be executed within the gaming environment. Again, the referee rightsthat are included in the referee role may depend, at least in part, onthe video game for which the referee role is being created. For examplea home-base umpire referee role may include common referee rights thatare within the purview of the home-base umpire, such as the ability tocall balls, strikes, balks, and so forth. In other embodiment, a refereerole may include a blending of roles of various referees. For example,the referee rights associated with a first and second base umpire may becombined together into a single referee role. In some instances, a ruleset for a particular sporting event may be uploaded to the networkedgaming system 105. The rule set may be analyzed and a referee role maybe created from the rule set.

In some instances, the same referee role may be conferred on severalpeople to create a pool of possible referees. Advantageously, if thereare numerous end users that are qualified to act as referees, there isgreater likelihood that there will be an end user available to referee avideo game at any given time.

In some instances, end users may create unique referee roles that aretailored to a specific type of video game. For example, a referee rolemay be created for a gaming environment that is not typically associatedwith a referee, such as a first person shooter game. The referee forsuch a video game may enforce any types of rules established by the gameparticipants.

In accordance with the present technology, referee roles may be createdand/or uploaded to the networked gaming system 105 prior to conferringthe referee roles on an end user.

End users may be vetted or qualified to be a referee before a refereerole is conferred on the end user. According to some embodiments, thequalification module 135 may be executed facilitate the qualification ofend users. By way of non-limiting example, qualifying an end user mayrequire the end user to establish a level of proficiency with the videogame for which they desire to referee. Establishing a level ofproficiency may include the qualification module 135 determining thatthe end user has been an active participant in the video game for apredetermined amount of time. In other embodiments, establishing a levelof proficiency may include the end user successfully completing anexamination provided by the qualification module 135. An exemplaryexamination may include questions regarding the video game, providingsuitable referee commands in response to a hypothetical gaming scenario,attaining a certain minimum player ranking in the video game, setting ofachievement in the video game, and so forth. If required, once a levelof proficiency has been established, the end user may be conferred areferee role by the referee mode module 130.

According to some embodiments, a referee role may be conferred on an enduser according the payment of a fee. In some instances, thequalification module 135 may require that the end user establishproficiency in the video game as well as pay a fee.

The referee mode module 130 may establish referee records that arestored in a data store. These referee records may include refereequalifications (e.g., types of gaming events for which the end user isqualified to referee), a history of gaming events for the referee thatmay include, but is not limited to, referee commands executed during theevent and so forth.

In some instances, the referee mode module 130 may track availablereferees that are online. The referee mode module 130 may automaticallyassign a referee to a gaming environment based upon need. In otherembodiments, participants may select from a list of available refereesthat are currently online.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the referee mode module 130may create a referee schedule for each referee that comprises a list ofgaming events that have been assigned to the referee. The gaming eventsincluded in the list may be randomly selected or may include gamingevents for which the referee has been requested by one or moreparticipants. In creating the list of gaming events, the referee modemodule 130 may evaluate qualifications for the referee as determined bythe qualification module 135. Thus, even if a referee has beenrequested, if the referee is not qualified, the referee mode module 130may prevent the end user from acting as referee in such instances.

During game play within a gaming environment, a referee may executevarious referee commands that correspond to the referee rights includedin the referee role. Referee commands may affect a flow of game play.For example, assume that the game play includes a basketball match. Ifthe referee feels that a foul has been committed, the referee mayexecute a referee command that calls a foul on a particular participant.When the referee command is received by the networked gaming system 105,instructions within the videogame program 125 may be executed that causevarious events relating to the calling of a foul on a particular player.For example, the foul may be assessed to a player, the fouled player mayreceive an opportunity to shoot free throws, and so forth. Thus, thereceipt of a referee command by the networked gaming system 105 maycause a cascade of events within the gaming environment that affect thegame play.

In some instances, the calling of a foul by the referee may execute acommand that causes the game to be paused momentarily if the participantrequests that the foul be reviewed.

Accordingly, in some instances, an action by a referee may be subject toreview by one or more additional referees that are officiating the samegaming event. External referees may be consulted to review variousreferee commands. In other instances, a command of a referee may besubject to a crowd sourced review. That is, spectators or activeparticipants may vote on their opinion of the action by the referee. Ifa sufficient amount of individuals vote to overturn the action, then thecall of the referee may be reversed.

Statistics or metrics regarding challenges or other aspects of refereeperformance or behavior may be captured and stored in the refereerecord. These metrics may be used to determine the continued suitabilityof the end user to continue as a referee. For example, if the refereeconsistently receives negative feedback from participants or otherreferees, the end user may lose their referee status.

Similarly, because referees with high acumen and proficiency may bedifficult to locate and retain, referees may be compensated for theirtime and effort. For example, an end user may be paid to act in thecapacity of a referee. The referee may be compensated with currency,both real and/or virtual, a virtual reward, and so forth. Virtualrewards may comprise, for example, a coupon, a virtual trophy, anachievement, a weapon, inventory items for a video game, or any othervirtual reward that would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

While the above described examples are instructive, one of ordinaryskill in the art will readily appreciate that referee commands andcorresponding actions that are executed within the video game program inresponse to such commands are limitless in nature and quantity. Thesecommands and resulting actions may be tailored to specific video gameprograms by program authors. Although, common referee commands andcorresponding actions will be apparent to those familiar with exemplarysports or other competitions for which virtual games are created.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 200 for providing refereecontrol over game play within a gaming environment. The method 200 maycomprise the step 205 of establishing a referee role that allows an enduser to exert referee control of game play relative to a competition,within a gaming environment, between a plurality of participants. Inoperation, many types of referee roles may be created based upon thenature of the video game for which the referee is needed. Additionally,a plurality of referee roles may be established for a plurality ofdifferent types of video games.

To create the referee role, the method may comprise the step 210 ofestablishing referee rights for the referee role. In some instances thereferee rights may be made available only to the end user upon, whichthe referee role has been conferred. Again, in some instances the samereferee role may be conferred on several people to create a pool ofpossible referees.

The method may also comprise a step 215 of receiving a request for anend user to become a referee. In other instances, this step mayalternatively include the system actively soliciting end users to becomereferees.

Upon receipt of a request, the method 200 may comprise an optional step220 of qualifying the end user. Again, end users may be vetted orqualified to be a referee before a referee role is conferred on the enduser. By way of non-limiting example, qualifying an end user may requirethe end user to establish a level of proficiency with the video game forwhich they desire to referee. Establishing a level of proficiency mayinclude determining if the end user has been an active participant inthe video game for a predetermined amount of time. In other embodiments,establishing a level of proficiency may include the end usersuccessfully completing an examination. An exemplary examination mayinclude questions regarding the video game, providing suitable refereecommands in response to a hypothetical gaming scenario, attaining acertain minimum player ranking in the video game, setting of achievementin the video game, and so forth.

The method 200 may also comprise the step 225 of conferring a refereerole on the end user. During game play, the method 200 may then includea step 230 of receiving referee commands from a referee, along with astep 235 of executing the referee commands to affect the game playwithin a gaming environment. For example, a referee command may compriseejecting a participant from game play due to unacceptable behavior. Thenetworked gaming system may then cause the removal of the participantfrom the game play in accordance with the referee command. Thus, thereferee command may create an effect within the gaming environment bycausing the networked gaming system which provides the gamingenvironment to execute instructions that fulfill the referee command.

FIG. 3 is flowchart of another exemplary method 300 for providingreferee control within a gaming environment. The method 300 may comprisea step 305 of providing an end user with referee rights that allow theend user to referee a competition within a virtual gaming environment.During game play, the method may comprise a step 310 of executingreferee commands received from the end user to affect the competition.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computing system 400 that may be used toimplement an embodiment of the present technology. Either of the enduser computing system 115 and/or the server 110 may include one or moreof the components of computing system 400. The computing system 400 ofFIG. 4 includes one or more processors 410 and memory 420. Memory 420stores, in part, instructions and data for execution by the one or moreprocessors 410.

Memory 420 can store the executable code when the computing system 400is in operation. The computing system 400 of FIG. 4 may further includea mass storage device 430, portable storage medium drive(s) 440, outputdevices 450, user input devices 460, a graphics display 470, and otherperipheral device(s) 480.

The components shown in FIG. 4 are depicted as being connected via asingle bus 490. The components may be connected through one or more datatransport means. The one or more processor 410 and main a memory store420 may be connected via a local microprocessor bus, and the massstorage device 430, peripheral device(s) 480, portable storage mediumdrive(s) 440, and graphics display 470 may be connected via one or moreinput/output (I/O) buses.

Mass storage device 430, which may be implemented with a magnetic diskdrive or an optical disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device forstoring data and instructions for use by processor 410. Mass storagedevice 430 can store the system software for implementing embodiments ofthe present technology for purposes of loading that software into memory420.

Portable storage medium drive(s) 440 operate in conjunction with aportable non-volatile storage medium, such as a floppy disk, compactdisk or digital video disc, to input and output data and code to andfrom the computing system 400 of FIG. 4. The system software forimplementing embodiments of the present technology may be stored on sucha portable medium and input to the computing system 400 via the portablestorage medium drive(s) 440.

Input devices 460 provide a portion of a user interface. Input devices460 may include an alphanumeric keypad, such as a keyboard, forinputting alphanumeric and other information, or a pointing device, suchas a mouse, a trackball, stylus, or cursor direction keys. Additionally,the computing system 400 as shown in FIG. 4 includes output devices 450.Suitable output devices include speakers, printers, network interfaces,and monitors.

Graphics display 470 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) or othersuitable display device. Graphics display 470 receives textual andgraphical information, and processes the information for output to thedisplay device.

Peripheral device(s) 480 may include any type of computer support deviceto add additional functionality to the computing system. Peripheraldevice(s) 480 may include a modem or a router.

The components contained in the computing system 400 of FIG. 4 are thosetypically found in computing systems that may be suitable for use withembodiments of the present technology and are intended to represent abroad category of such computer components that are well known in theart. Thus, the computing system 400 of FIG. 4 can be a personalcomputer, hand held computing system, telephone, mobile computingsystem, workstation, server, minicomputer, mainframe computer, or anyother computing system. The computer can also include different busconfigurations, networked platforms, multi-processor platforms, etc.Various operating systems can be used including UNIX, Linux, Windows,Macintosh OS, Palm OS, and other suitable operating systems.

Some of the above-described functions may be composed of instructionsthat are stored on storage media (e.g., computer-readable medium). Theinstructions may be retrieved and executed by the processor. Someexamples of storage media are memory devices, tapes, disks, and thelike. The instructions are operational when executed by the processor todirect the processor to operate in accord with the technology. Thoseskilled in the art are familiar with instructions, processor(s), andstorage media.

It is noteworthy that any hardware platform suitable for performing theprocessing described herein is suitable for use with the technology. Theterms “computer-readable storage medium” and “computer-readable storagemedia” as used herein refer to any medium or media that participate inproviding instructions to a CPU for execution. Such media can take manyforms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile mediaand transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, opticalor magnetic disks, such as a fixed disk. Volatile media include dynamicmemory, such as system RAM. Transmission media include coaxial cables,copper wire and fiber optics, among others, including the wires thatcomprise one embodiment of a bus. Transmission media can also take theform of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radiofrequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms ofcomputer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROMdisk, digital video disk (DVD), any other optical medium, any otherphysical medium with patterns of marks or holes, a RAM, a PROM, anEPROM, an EEPROM, a FLASHEPROM, any other memory chip or data exchangeadapter, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to a CPU for execution. Abus carries the data to system RAM, from which a CPU retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by system RAM canoptionally be stored on a fixed disk either before or after execution bya CPU.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. The descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of thetechnology to the particular forms set forth herein. Thus, the breadthand scope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of theabove-described exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that theabove description is illustrative and not restrictive. To the contrary,the present descriptions are intended to cover such alternatives,modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit andscope of the technology as defined by the appended claims and otherwiseappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. The scope of thetechnology should, therefore, be determined not with reference to theabove description, but instead should be determined with reference tothe appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing referee control over gameplay within a gaming environment, the method comprising: establishing areferee role that allows an end user to exert referee control of gameplay relative to a competition, within the gaming environment, between aplurality of participants, the referee role established using anetworked gaming system running on a server; establishing referee rightsfor the referee role using the networked gaming system, the refereerights being made available only to the end user upon which the refereerole has been conferred; qualifying the end user for the referee role byrequiring the end user to complete and pass an examination to establishproficiency in the game, the examination comprising questions regardingreferee commands in response to a hypothetical gaming scenario; andconferring the referee role upon the end user using a referee modemodule.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selectingthe end user for the referee role from a list of available refereescurrently online who have been required to establish a level ofproficiency relative to the competition.
 3. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising qualifying the end user for the referee roleby requiring the end user to pay a fee to become a referee.
 4. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the referee rights comprisecommands that allow the end user in the referee role to enforce rulesestablished by game participants.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein the referee rights comprise commands that allow the end user inthe referee role to disqualify any of the plurality of participants. 6.The method according to claim 1, wherein the referee rights comprisecommands that allow the end user in the referee role to pause the game,control play of the game, review past play upon pausing the game, andreplay at least a portion of the game play captured by a gaming systemthat provides the gaming environment.
 7. The method according to claim1, wherein if the gaming environment comprises a sporting event, thereferee rights for the referee role allow the end user in the refereerole to enforce rules for the sporting event.
 8. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising: receiving a referee command during gameplay from an end user device associated with a referee; and executing anaction that affects the game play, the action corresponding to thereferee command.
 9. The method according to claim 1, whereinestablishing a referee role includes receiving rules from end users andusing the received rules for creating the referee role.
 10. An onlinevideo gaming system that provides referee control of a gamingenvironment, the online video gaming system comprising: a memory forstoring executable instructions; and a processor for executing theexecutable instructions, the executable instructions comprising: areferee mode module that: receives a rule set uploaded to the onlinevideo gaming system; analyzes the rule set; establishes, from theanalysis of the rule set, a referee role that allows an end user toexert referee control of game play relative to a competition, within thegaming environment, between a plurality of participants; comprises aqualification module that qualifies the end user for the referee role byrequiring the end user to complete and pass an examination to establishproficiency in the game, the examination comprising questions regardingreferee commands in response to a hypothetical gaming scenario; confersthe referee role upon the end user; and assigns referee rights for thereferee role, the referee rights being made available only to the enduser upon which the referee role has been conferred.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 10, wherein the qualification module furtherqualifies the end user for the referee role by requiring the end user toestablish a minimum level of player ranking relative to the competition.12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the qualification modulefurther qualifies the end user for the referee role by requiring the enduser to complete an examination, the examination comprising determiningsuitability of referee commands provided by the end user in response toa hypothetical video gaming scenario.
 13. The system according to claim10, wherein the qualification module further qualifies the end user forthe referee role by requiring the end user to pay a fee to become areferee.
 14. The system according to claim 10, wherein the refereerights comprise commands that allow the end user in the referee role toenforce rules relative to the competition.
 15. The system according toclaim 10, wherein the referee rights comprise commands that allow theend user in the referee role to disqualify any of the plurality ofparticipants.
 16. The system according to claim 10, wherein the refereerights comprise commands that allow the end user in the referee role torewind at least a portion of the game play captured by the online videogaming system to previous player positions as a result of an error inthe online video gaming system and replay the online video game from theprevious player positions.
 17. The system according to claim 10, whereinif the gaming environment comprises a sporting event, metrics regardingchallenges of the end user in the referee role while enforcing rules forthe sporting event are captured and stored in a referee record.
 18. Amethod for providing referee control within a gaming environment, themethod comprising: qualifying an end user for a referee role byrequiring the end user to complete and pass an examination to establishproficiency in a game, the examination comprising questions regardingreferee commands in response to a hypothetical gaming scenario;providing the qualified end user with referee rights that allow the enduser to referee a competition within a virtual gaming environment;executing referee commands received from the end user to affect thecompetition; and storing a history of referee commands executed duringgaming events in a data store.
 19. The method according to claim 18,further comprising receiving votes from active participants regarding anexecuted referee command and overturning the executed referee commandbased on the received votes.